Census records, real estate guides, and fire insurance maps draw a profile of the neighborhood in the 1930s. Situated at the southern end of the city's Yorkville District, the block was predominantly Italian, although many Irish and Poles lived on nearby East Side streets. The population grew during the decade, with most families living in rented three- or four-room apartments or in "rooming and lodging" houses built before 1900. Most buildings provided shared toilets and tubs, and nearly all residents had electricity or gas for cooking and lighting. Rents ranged from ten to fifty dollars per month. Residents either rode public transportation (a tramway ran parallel to East Sixty-first Street and the EL traveled along Second Avenue) or walked; few owned automobiles. A Roman Catholic church--identified as Our Lady of Perpetual Help on a 1934 map--adjoined a parochial school facing East Sixty-second Street. Many small businesses served the neighborhood, and a few larger concerns like warehouses and a laundry that served a citywide clientele.11
Anamaria Liriano on 05 Sep 13I was really excited to have come across this document. It is a primary source from the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), written shortly after bus segregation was deemed unconstitutional in 1956. The text reads as a list, for those who followed the MIA, on how to continue to act and conduct themselves in light of the recent changes to law. One line stands out, "Demonstrate the calm dignity of our Montgomery people in your actions." It makes me think of Ms. Parks in the image that was taken, and keeping in mind how it had been said before that she was of outstanding character, the quote resonates with me in that I see her as something of a model for everyone else to follow at the time.
